Abstract
Chitin plays a crucial role in the development of the insect cuticle and exoskeleton, the peritrophic membrane of the midgut, and other structures such as the trachea, wing hinges and eggshell. Here we report the annotation of one CHS gene and two UAP genes in the Asian citrus psyllid, Diaphorina citri. Although most insects have two CHS genes, the presence of a single CHS gene is consistent with reports from other hemipteran genomes. In contrast, D. citri seems to be unusual in having two UAP genes. RNA-Seq data indicates that one of the D. citri UAP genes is broadly expressed, while the other is expressed predominantly in males. Our manual annotation of these chitin biosynthesis genes provides improved gene targets for future experiments.
Competing Interest Statement
The authors have declared no competing interest.